Nick D'Alto's article "Making Mona Lisa Smile" describes the capabilities of new software called the Facial Action Coding System, and provides a few examples of its possible uses. In the text, the author states that the technology, which evaluates the movement of facial muscles to determine emotion, could be beneficial in places such as a classroom settting. Using software such as the Facial Action Coding System could be valuable in a classroom setting as it could improve the quality of learning for students.

The new emotion-reading technology could help in the classroom as it could make sure students stayed engaged in the lesson. Often in school, students become bored easily, due to lack of attention long attention spans, uninteresting lessons, or boring teachers. This technology could help eliminate bordom. In the article, Dr. Huang states that "a classroom computer could recognize when a student... [is] bored" which would be beneficial, as it "could modify the lesson, like an effective human instructor." This means that this technology could tell if students are bored, and could alert the teacher. If teachers knew when their students were loosing focus and becoming uninterested in the lesson, they could change it to bring students back on focus, which would improve the productivity and use of time in the classroom because teachers would not be wasting time teaching students who are uninterested, and therefore, likely not listening. By eliminating this bordom factor, teachers would be more effective with their teaching time, and students would recieve a better quality of learning.

The technology could also help improve the quality of students' learning because it can make sure students are not confused. Often, when teachers ask if everyone understands the material, students who do not understand, will be too emabrassed to ask for help, or the teachers, with such a large class, will not notice if one or only a few students are falling behind. Furthermore, in the article, Dr. Huang states that "'most human communication is nonverbal, including emotional communication" meaning that most communication is picked up in other ways, such as visually. Unfortunately, often in a classroom setting, teachers must face away from their students when writing on a white board at the front of the classroom, or in similar situations, which means that without the visual connection, much of the communication between students and teachers is lost. The new technolgoy could help with this problem, as it could identify students' emotions even when a teacher's back is turned, and thus could alert teachers and help them improve their lessons to fit their students' needs. It could also help evaluate emotions that teachers do not notice, such as if a student is confused, they may try to hide it. This new technology could identify these emotions and help the teacher make sure all of their students understand the material, which would lead to an improved quality of teaching and learning.

The quality of learning in a classroom setting could be improved by teachers knowing the emotions of their students, which would make new technology such as the Facial Action Coding System, valuable in a classroom setting. This technololgy would be beneficial because it could identify whether students are confused or bored, which would make class time more productive and interesting, as well as make sure all students understood the material. This would improve their quality of learning, and make school more meaningful.